I’ve fought a few and I haven’t really noticed anything new, but it could just be that the giefs I played are still playing in season 1 mode. I remember trying the ex grab loop and getting caught by ex spd (hate that!)on the second attempt so that’s still there lol. His jab is still a good anti air. The only thing I noticed was that I seemed to get a little more mileage out of 5MK with the buffs. I think that and the fact the overhead is now + on hit may make this ever so slightly better than before. Just a hunch at this point, though. Still think it’ll be in his favor.
I think the only true change is that now you have to respect more of his normals (since they went from +1 to +2) and back dash or jump away from almost every light. Buffed Lariat seems like an actually good AA too now.
Since most Giefs will now spin around that Lariat like they were Rashido I suggest working on those punishes for when it whiffs.
I dunno about you guys but after a blocked normal v skill dash back, I can get grabbed by EX SPD. Was that like that in season 1??
edit: nvm. It doesn’t seem like they increased the range for it.
2MK will actually whiff punish it without much trouble from my testing, so I’d recommend 2MK > LP Bolt > throw loop.
As for the rest, I was already backdashing/jumping all the time, so that doesn’t seem like it’ll change.
You can probably still play lame against him and win; 2HK is a surprisingly good footsies button against him because so many of his normals hit fairly high up on your hurtbox. It even whiff punishes knee, which I found really weird. 2MK also works, but I’ve had a lot of success in S1 with 2HK and nothing he does seems to have changed enough to make a different choice there.
I was rewatching a replay I had with zangief.
I wasn’t able to 3frame jab him when he stopped spinning his arms (after 1 second of spinning V trigger).
He was able to SPD my 3 frame jab (regular SPD).
Did his V Trigger get buffed? the heck.
I think that problem stems from her short range. Normally you can but her jab is too short. Same issue with Alex’s elbow and how its -4 but she cant reach.
Did you block the vacuum effect? Because he’s + if you don’t
Good Morning Laura players !
I’ve been reading this forum for a moment now and I finally decided to register …
I’m trying to main Laura since the game released, and I have to admit that it took me a moment before being comfortable with the charachter, especially considering the fact that it’s my very first Street Fighter.
I would need your help regarding the Zangief MU as I think it’s my most painful MU …
I’m not getting used with all the vocabulary yet and I would like to know the safest moves I can use with him. Indeed , each time I’m doing a thunder clap , he replies with a HK , and when he gets closer, he grabs me everytime!
Without mentionning that he picks me up each time I jump … 
There are no really safe moves against him. If you wanna throw the clap just use the charged one from much further away. Other than that, you better just know the precise spacing of your moves to avoid whiffing stuff in SPD range. You have to be either in his face or very far away.
In general I think st. or cr. HK work well in this MU because they can score you a knockdown and Giefs tend not to watch on their toes. Just don’t be throwing them mindlessly as they can be punished.
Had long sets against @Mesenkomaha yesterday and got quite bodied
It’s definitely hard to get in against Gief’s long buttons and Mesenkomaha’s whiff punish or buffer with stLK -> Lariat was literally stopping any forward movement
Catching the legs at max range is probably your best bet in this matchup
Early on in the sets I couldnt figure the timing of Lariats late active frames after baiting it out with clap but after I did I started punishing it on block or whiff punishing it
He then started using it less often and began blocking the clap more
Going for the legs like @OceanMachine is your best bet
Once you condition him and hinder his movement it’s alot easier to deal with him
Once he gets that heavy/medium SPD in though, it is a fucking nightmare lol
@Mesenkomaha is easily one of the stronger Gief’s I’ve played in this game and way stronger than that gief I played
Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate it and enjoyed our matches.
st.lk xx lariat whiff punishing and st.mp counter poking is huge in this MU. Gief needs to put away the st.hp here, as it is too risky to whiff against Laura who can get in with bolt right away.
My biggest concern in this MU is in neutral with Laura using st.hk to poke. If it crush counters me I’m eating some damage and a bolt combo. My strategy going forward is to try to fish out more st.hk whiffs and punish it with st.lk xx lariat.
I felt this MU was either even or slight advantage Gief. Once Laura gets VT the matchup gets a little wonky and you’re going to eat some combo on any hit, defend the reset properly or you’re probably dead. I think there are three options in this mixup, block it out and pray, lariat through fireball shenanigans, or find the gap and churn super.
Did Gief’s headbutt always hit twice? Caught me by surprise earlier that he managed to headbutt a Clap and kill me with the second hit.
The hitbox of his headbutt doesn’t dissipate if he clashes with a fireball
Ah, right, thanks for the clarification.
Zangief
[list]
[]Head Butt
Reduced the amount of CA meter gain upon use to cancel a projectile attack
Note: From 50 to 30
[]Double Lariat
Reduced the downwards hitbox on his arms while spinning (1st revolution)
Changed so that the hitbox on his arms while spinning (2nd and 3rd revolutions) will not hit crouching opponents
Expanded the hurtbox to the same position as his hitbox
[]Harasho Choke Slam
New neutral/forward normal throw (LP+LK) that is triggered against crouching opponents
[]Flying Head Butt
New move: press up + HK during a neutral jump
[*]Tundra Storm
New move: F, D, DF + P - perform a counter (only works against horizontally-angled kick attacks)[/list]
Kinda worried by the last one. Goodbye st. HK?
As this could seem bad, this may work well in Lauras favor as another mixup game. If Gief is left recovering a good amount of frames, we can get them for trying. Also with the lariat nerf Laura can now be rewarded for it missing since it wont hit crouching anymore and push her too far out on block. His st.hp and st.hk will still be horrendous though…